Graduates who grew up in SF public housing honored

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco held a special graduation ceremony for a select group of students on Wednesday morning.

Mayor Ed Lee attended the event at City Hall.

The students all grew up in public housing units and overcame great odds to excel in school.

Marcos Munguia lives in the Alemany housing projects. He says he used to have trouble getting his homework done because of the crime and violence in his neighborhood.

"Someone has shot into my house before," he said. "It's affected me a lot in school, like my past years, but my senior year I've gotten a lot better and I've gotten past things like that and I didn't let it stop me."

Munguia and four other high school graduates received a $500 scholarship from the San Francisco Housing Authority.

In all, 69 students who live in public housing were honored by the city for their hard work.